Strange things happening recently in Houses for sale in Spain land. This post is going to ask a simple question: How long must I live in a country before the natives allow me to have an opinion? That is an opinion without being jumped on and told if you don't like it then leave.
Just some background here. I love Spain and I love living in Spain. I have been here for two decades and really have no interest in going elsewhere at the moment.
The start of this realistation was a few weeks ago. On the Hola Valencia blog about corruption in Valencia the writers and my comment were told to shut up because we are not from Valencia. OK, isolated incident I hear you say. Well it has happened again with a comment I made on Twitter re the family photo of Zapatero with Obama. Maybe I have just started noticing it but it seems to be happening quite regularly recently.
What I don't understand, or maybe I do on one level, is why the Spanish are quite content to rip into their own country mercilessly but if anybody else does it then they immediately go into a strop about how "Guiris" (Foreigners to the uninitiated) are not allowed to comment about perceived things that don't work in Spain whereas natives can. Therefore my question of the day is how long must you be in a country before your opinion is accepted as valid? What are your thoughts?
Further Reading:
2) The Bad Rash (A blog about politics and life in Barcelona)
3) Notes From Spain Talks about life and society in Madrid
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